


On the Winding Road

by Nerisvyre



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Deception, F/M, Gen, Manipulation, Mentor/Apprentice dynamics, Not In Chronological Order, Other tags to be added, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, There will be eventual mutual attraction so I’m going to go ahead and tag a ship, darker themes, essentially written as the ideas and motivation comes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-06 09:11:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14053668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerisvyre/pseuds/Nerisvyre
Summary: Drabbles showing glimpses of newly revived Guardian Diana Asarov as she travels with and learns under Dredgen Yor, unaware of the corruption and his true intentions.





	1. A Tense Wait

Diana wrapped the blanket around herself a little tighter and stared into the fire. She didn’t dare try to move the bedroll any closer to the flames than it already was. As they traveled north, the nights started to get colder and colder. She initially fell asleep that night sharing the bedroll with her mentor, assured in the assumption that she’d feel less cold. But the spot right behind her was empty and it didn’t take long for the cold to seep back in, at which point she woke up.

This wasn’t the first time Diana woke up in the middle of the night cold and alone, nor would it be the last. Whatever threat Dredgen had sensed, she trusted that he’d be able to take care of it. That didn’t stop the worry as gunfire cracked in the distance and the minutes of silence that followed crawled on.

The snapping of a twig had her grabbing for her knife and she turned, only to relax as she caught sight of her mentor. If her movement somehow didn’t give away that she was awake, then her glowing green eyes would.

“You should be sleeping,” chided the man, though it was more out of habit than any real chastisement.

“You were gone. I got worried,” Diana replied, voice quiet as she laid back down.

“And cold, I see,” he said, a hint of laughter coloring his tone. It was perhaps a bit more humor than he usually showed, stoic as he was. Though she thought that it was changing day by day. She didn’t deny his statement, merely straightening the blanket back out as he climbed back into the bedroll with her. The warmth immediately brought her comfort and relief.

“Go back to sleep. Long day ahead of us.”


	2. Gifts and Hidden Agendas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of a snapshot of a moment, really.

Diana gingerly held the green, stone rose in her hands. It seemed to pulse with an energy that she couldn’t quite grasp and the details cut into the stone made it look as if it were a real, living rose. It likely wasn’t fragile like a real flower, but she would take no chances. “What’s this for?” she asked. It didn’t seem to serve any useful function like the knives and guns Dredgen had helped her obtain, and gifts merely for aesthetics were rare.

  
“Consider it a sort of… gift of progress,” Dredgen replied, the corners of his lips curled up into a smile. She thought she saw pride in his eyes. “You’ve progressed a bit faster than anticipated. Well done.”

  
“T-Thank you.” She said, a bit stunned. She never expected this level of praise, though he gave it consistently enough. Unsure of what else to do, she carefully attached the rose to her cloak and went about performing maintenance on her weapons.

  
He didn’t tell her of the shadow it carries.

  
He didn’t tell her that once she made her own weapon - like he did so long ago - it would act as a catalyst for her own descent into the shadows.

  
He didn’t tell her that it would be bound to her, how she would never be rid of it.

  
He didn’t tell her that it would help him track her down and drag her back to follow in his footsteps.


	3. Quiet Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yor is astonished, though not unhappy, that his newfound apprentice nor her Ghost have seen through his lies yet and important, though not totally vital, information is revealed.

“Do you think we could go to the City?” Diana asks him as they sit in a tavern in the settlement. It had only been a few days since her Ghost, who she lovingly named ‘Chip’, found her and a mere few hours later, Dredgen Yor found her running away from Fallen. Her mentor, who had been leisurely sipping from his drink, turned to look towards her. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about him, but he seemed nice enough and he’d gotten rid of the Fallen that chased her.

  
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Dredgen replies, placing his glass on the table. His movements seemed weary to her. “It’s gotten very crowded and a lot of people there are afraid of people like us. Believe it or not, with how little combat and defense training you have right now, it wouldn’t be safe for you.” It’s not totally a lie, but she didn’t have to know.

  
Diana mulled over his words for a few moments, a bit disappointed but she could understand some of his reasoning. Dredgen saw the disappointment in the way she slumped her shoulders and was pleased when she didn’t protest. He glanced towards her Ghost and, not for the first time, wondered why the machine didn’t catch his lies or even recognize his name. His crimes were known amongst the Risen, given how he’d already killed several at this point. The machine must have been cut off from information, he reasoned. The possibility seemed more likely with each passing day that the new Hunter stayed with him. Well, so far it was making his plans proceed more smoothly than anticipated.

  
Diana lifted her glass of water to her lips and the movement brought the man back to the present. Though she had enough reason to drink, waking up in a world different than what little she remembered as of now, she’d refused any alcoholic beverages. She was clearly young, that much he could tell, and didn’t look like she could be older than 20. It seemed to him as if she were abiding by some age limit. If it was as he suspected, then the implications were troubling.

  
“How old are you?” he asked, startling the girl out of whatever she might have been thinking, “You seem a bit young to be chosen from the dead to fight.”

  
Diana hummed and wrapped an arm around herself, holding onto the other. Dredgen’s piercing gaze made her a bit nervous, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. “I… think I died around… two weeks before my 18th birthday. I’m… not sure if that means I’ll be 18 in two weeks since it’s not the right date, or…” she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders.

  
Her answer made the man freeze and he clenched his fist tightly. Barely 18. She was a child! A dead child brought back to fight in a war she barely understood! A war that could very well last several more centuries. His disgust for the Traveler grew at that revelation. It was already his plan, but she would be his. He would not allow the Traveler use her as a pawn as it used him and so many other Risen, though she would be his pawn. If he decided to let her live. That would be entirely dependent on her, on how fast she progresses through the training he will set out for her. She showed promise, though. Frankly, he’d be disappointed if anyone with a spark as bright as hers didn’t have the capability to grow stronger, more skilled.

  
Diana finished her venison in silence and simply waited. She hoped they would stay the night. As pretty as the night sky was, it was rather cold outside. Then again, she doubted that he would make them leave the settlement when it was already dark out. She gave a tired smile when he said that he’d get them a room for the night, her small hope answered.


	4. A Small Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A test of Diana’s skills, and to see how much she enjoys the thrill. Occurs about a year and a half after he first found her.

Mentor and apprentice watched the group of Fallen outside - about a dozen or so, with eight Dregs, three Vandals, and a Captain - from a room a few floors up in the dilapidated building. Shadows concealed enough so that the two were not immediately spotted, though it helped that they weren’t standing right in the middle of the open, crumbled wall. They weren’t looking for Fallen, but Yor saw the opportunity to test his student’s skill. Under his guidance over the past year and a half, Diana had grown quickly from barely a novice to a fighter - an assassin - that could match blows against other Guardians.

  
“Give me your weapons,” Dredgen said, holding his hand out, “You’ll use only a knife for these opponents. Open combat, not stealth.” His expression was near unreadable to her, though that was par for the course for their training sessions and his tests. Always pushing her to her limits, saving any hints of praise on her progress and criticisms of her mistakes until after her tests. She was grateful for it though. If she weren’t challenged, she’d never improve, and she would have died her final death in combat long ago.  
Diana swallowed and forced herself to stop the slight trembling as she handed him her trusty hand cannon and sniper rifle. She had little reason to be nervous about the test, about any of the recent tests, but it couldn’t be helped. She hesitated on the sword (it was a blade after all, technically a really long knife) until he held his hand out for it too, having placed the sniper next to him and her hand cannon on his hip, opposite to Thorn. He had said that she could use only her knife and it seemed that the sword wouldn’t count this time. Once he had all her weapons, he gave her a nod before leaning against the wall.

  
Diana took a deep breath, watching as a Dreg wandered right beneath her, before she fell from the building and plunged the knife into the alien’s neck. The hiss of ether and the dying shriek of the Dreg alerted the others to her presence, angry battle cries piercing through the air where relative silence had been. She wasted no time in sprinting towards the others, weaving and spinning around the arc bolts that they shot at her. She cut through the weak points in their armor in a constant, one could even say elegant, flow of motion.

  
A Vandal grabbed her from behind by her knife arm and she grunted at the force. She elbowed the alien in the face and twisted, using the Vandal’s own body as leverage to vault up the wall and roll backwards on their back, forcing herself out of their grasp. A stab in the neck and the Vandal was dead. Another one clashed blades with her, the clang of metal echoing as she blocked some strikes and dodged others. That one fell before her blade too.

  
Diana threw her knife and caught it in a reverse grip, swinging the blade upwards to slash a Dreg through the chest. She dodged and rolled, often using their own movements against them, sometimes vaulting off the wall and twisting in the air to kick when she couldn’t slash or stab. Before she knew it, all were dead except for the Captain roaring at her in the language that she didn’t understand, though the context and his tone communicated enough. She’d killed enough to understand rage and sorrow when she heard it.

  
The arc shield flashed in place and she rushed the Captain, meeting him blade for blade and heart pounding. He had the advantage of four arms and general taller stature. The familiar rush of adrenaline from the fight had her grinning. She whittled away at his shield, dodging and rolling each time his blades swung. She heard the crackle of the shield breaking and drove her knife into the Captain’s gut, pushing him back and causing him to stumble into his knees as the knife was yanked out only to be stabbed through the side of his neck.  
The fight over, the young woman stood like that for a few seconds, panting, before pulling her knife out and staring up at her mentor. Dredgen’s smile was full of pride and there was a viciousness to it that made a shiver run down her back. Diana flicked the blade to get rid of excess blood and made her way back up to him to hear his assessment of what she did well, and what they need to do to help her improve.

  
~

  
The slaughter had taken no more than three minutes by his estimate. The way she’d moved was beautiful and a testament to how far she’d come since he found her. Her skills, however, weren’t the only thing he looked out for. He noticed the way she enjoyed herself, how she grinned and moved with vigor as the rush of battle swept over her. He couldn’t deny the desire -the possessiveness - he felt upon watching her, watching how she seemed to revel in the fight. She’d be ready soon, he thought, to know the truth and see what the Hive had to offer.


	5. Musings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana thinks on the Light in her, and of the progress she’s made and yet to make.

Musings

Solar Light was her first, and the first that he taught her to wield. It was volatile and her attacks burned out quickly, but there wasn’t too much trouble controlling it and it kept her warm. It didn’t take much to burn their enemies to death. Once she’d gotten proficient enough in that, he moved her on to the next one. Arc Light came to her more easily. Quick as lightning, it let her wield her blade with deadly speed and electric energy. It left her jittery, excitable. The Void, however... it was the newest out of the three types to her, but it felt... right. More of a part of her than the other two, truer to her being. The pull of her tethers, the cold burning without flame, the whispers of starlight, weak as they were because of her lack of experience with this new form of Light.

Diana stayed seated by the fire as she stared down at the swirling energy between her palms, watching the shapes they took, calm. Her mentor sat down beside her on the log and offered her a skewer of cooked rabbit. She let the Void energy dissipate and accepted the skewer, thanking him.

The smell and taste reminded her of just how hungry she was and so she bit into the meat quickly. Dredgen did the same, though his pace was a little slower. It was something small she noticed, but he didn’t seem to need to eat as much as she did. It didn’t bother her much beyond her worrying if he had enough. Though each person was different and she wondered if it was his Light having different effects on him. His Light felt different to her, too. More... volatile. She chalked it up to him simply having a different Light signature than her. She got the sense that he was hiding something, but hundreds of years of living and fighting and dying would make for plenty of things that people didn’t want to talk about.

“You take well to the Void,” Dredgen said, bringing her out of her thoughts, “Still too soon to tell, but perhaps we’ve found your natural affinity.”

“Maybe,” Diana said, shrugging, “It felt... easier to bring it out than the others. But maybe it’s just that I know how to bring my Light out now.”

“Maybe so,” he replied, nodding his head. “Still,” He grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, “You’re learning well.”

Diana couldn’t help but smile back, her cheeks burning. Praise wasn’t something she ever really got used to, especially since she knew she still had a long way to go before she got anywhere near his level. Turning her gaze towards the fire, she tossed the remains of her skewer in, her mentor doing the same.


	6. Late Night Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabble. This time fully from Yor’s POV. It’s tough to sleep on an empty stomach, or wherever the Light goes when he consumes it, and he muses on how easily Diana trusts him.

Light so bright, so _pure_ , he could almost taste it. It would be easy, laughably so, to kill her. To watch her shock and betrayal on her dying face as he devoured, the purple of her skin growing pale, the wisps of starlight on her skin fading, her bright eyes growing dull, green hair reddened with blood. She wouldn’t see it coming, especially now as she slept. The girl trusted him too much for that.

Dredgen sighed and held Diana closer, the awoken stirring in her sleep. He needed to hunt. Soon. He invested too much time and effort in her to waste it because he couldn’t control his hunger. And he had grown a bit fond of her. He knew that she was fond of him, too, from the way she looked at him and was at ease with him. At the very least, she saw him as her friend. She didn’t bore or annoy him, two saving graces that kept him from killing her in the first few weeks since he found her. It made it so much easier for him to manipulate her, to cement himself as an important part of her life so that he might corrupt her, turn her away from the Light.

When had it all stopped being a complete act? When had his purpose for restraining himself from devouring turned from his ambition to possess and corrupt her to genuinely wanting to keep her alive? When had she wormed her way into the cracks of his blackened heart? He didn’t know nor did he particularly care. In any case, she was a good student and her companionship was enjoyable. Perhaps it was a result of his possessiveness for her. It did fill him with a wicked sort of pride to see her wearing his rose, to watch as she fought the way he taught her, and recently to see her eyes wide with awe when he let her handle and use Thorn (something he had never let anyone do). Whether she knew it or not, she was his. A weapon for him to wield and an apprentice to carry his legacy.

The amount of trust she placed in him astonished Dredgen. She’d unknowingly laid herself bare before a monster, telling him her secrets, confiding in him her fears. To a practiced manipulator, she was as malleable as clay. At least to the person she trusted her life with, and he’d made sure to give no reason for her not to trust him. His suspicions about her Ghost being cut off from nearly all contact were confirmed long ago. It didn’t know who he was or anything recent about the City, so focused on finding its Risen. As far as he was concerned, there was little her Ghost could do to turn her against him.

The man sighed and closed his eyes, his hunger suppressed for now. He wouldn’t be able to ignore it for much longer but thankfully they were heading towards a known bandit hideout, and he could devour whatever measly sparks the sad bastards had.


	7. Remembrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It includes a small headcanon of mine about Guardians’ memories, but otherwise it’s a shapshot of a moment

“So, a lot of us get brought back with no memories?” Diana asked as they walked through the ruins of an old town. Possibly somewhere around Russia or Ukraine? She wasn’t sure. She mostly based it on the Cyrillic letters on old, corroded street signs. It was rather scenic, though the implications were sad. There didn’t seem to be anyone else there, but the newly resurrected Hunter was wary. Sure, her mentor would be able to fend them off and he started teaching her ever since they started traveling together a few weeks ago, but she wasn’t all that confident in her abilities.

 

“Yes. Some of us have no memories of who we were before, some are brought back with memories intact, and then some are like you,” Dredgen replied, “Get bits and pieces over time. What brought this on?” His gait was relaxed, seemingly at ease as they passed through the town. She knew that he was alert, though. Or at least he told her that he was almost always alert. She’s a bit inclined to believe that. Seeing him throw a knife in her general direction into the head of a cloaked Vandal that was sneaking towards them kind of helped with that.

 

Diana shrugged, trying to find the right words. “I dunno, just... got curious I guess...” she trailed off. There was something she wondered.

 

It seemed that he noticed there was more because he then asked, “About?”

 

“Well, I-I don’t want to pry...” She hesitated, lips curled into a small frown. Yor gave her a nod and gestured for her to continue. Relaxing a bit at the permission, she asked, “Do you remember anything from before?”

 

It took a moment for him to answer, his gaze turned towards the sky in thought. “It’s been so long. Anymore, I can’t tell which were from before. If there ever were any, they’re not important to me now.”

 

“I suppose they wouldn’t be,” Diana murmured, gaze directed to the ground as she pushed a pebble with each step she took. She still had trouble wrapping around her head the concept that he had been alive for centuries, brought back the same way she was and kept alive because of it. The resurrection was another thing hard for her to grasp, even though it happened to her once since her initial resurrection.

 

“Remember anything new?” Dredgen asked. The question itself seemed to her like a paradox. Things remembered generally weren’t new, but the circumstances were strange enough that it made perfect sense.

 

“Well... I remembered a song, but...” Diana started. She looked back up to the path ahead, no longer interested in kicking the pebble along. Her eyebrows scrunched up in thought. She could hear and think of the tune, but she couldn’t quite place it. There weren’t any lyrics either, so that didn’t help. It bothered her.

 

“But you don’t remember what it’s called,” he finished for her. She nodded her head, humming a confirmation. “Care to hum or sing it? It’s a long shot, but maybe I’ve heard it.”

 

Diana nodded and cleared her throat. She hummed the beginning trills of the song. Her voice couldn’t do the instruments justice, but she hummed the melody as best as she could remember. In her memory, the song sounded whimsical, perhaps a bit sorrowful, full of emotion. Perhaps fit for some sort of journey or adventure. She finished the final notes and opened her eyes. She didn’t realize that she had closed them. Beside her, Yor shook his head.

 

“Never heard it.”

 

“I figured.” Diana shrugged her shoulders, not too troubled by that.


	8. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Depending on the verse, these are the last moments of her willing apprenticeship to him before the torture as truths are revealed and she tries to leave. In another verse, this still happens, though what comes after has a different result.

Diana sifted through the piles of scrap and rubble, hoping to find something useful to bring back to camp. She beamed when she found some helium filaments. She wasn’t supposed to stray so far from camp without her mentor, but the area closer to their camp was already picked clean of anything useful. She was sure he wouldn’t mind. He taught her well, after all, and she could easily hide from Fallen and Hive if need be.

The girl stood up and gasped when she felt a spark of Light nearby. It seemed… brighter somehow. Gentler? She turned and was met with another Guardian, this one in robes and with a glowing armband. A Warlock, if she recalled Dredgen’s lessons correctly. The other woman lowered her gun and spoke, “Gathering some supplies for the City? Might wanna finish up quickly, Hunter. Yor’s been sighted in the area.”

“What?” Diana asked, tilting her head, “Why would… Are others not supposed to go near him?” She couldn’t see the Warlock’s face, but the way that she cocked her head told her everything. If she interpreted it correctly.

“New, are you? And no one’s told you what he’s done?” The Warlock didn’t seem too bothered. Perhaps running into new, ignorant Guardians happened more frequently for her. “The man’s slaughtered many settlements and murdered several Guardians. Rumor has it that he’s been traveling with a woman just as ruthless as him.”

“W-What?” Diana dropped the helium filaments, freezing as she processed the information. The blood drained from her face and she looked down to the ground.

“Yeah. Nasty piece of work,” the Warlock continued, understandably misinterpreting Diana’s shock, “Used to be a hero from what I hear, until he got his cursed gun and turned his back on the City, feeding on scraps of Light.”

She felt sick to her stomach, thinking back on all the places they’d destroyed, at the way he spoke to her and spoke of them, how he sometimes spoke riddles around himself, at what she now recognized as a dark sort of hunger. She thought back on all the reasons he gave to keep them from ever going to the City, how she’d never seen any other Guardians, how often she’d woken up in the middle of the night only to hear gunshots in the distance and watch her mentor return, sometimes covered in blood not his own. Were those other Guardians he killed? Poor Chip had been skeptical since the beginning, but the girl was too trusting.

Diana shook her head, wanting so desperately to deny it. “He found me a few hours after Chip did. He always said… He told me that they were bandits, some even working with the Fallen. Threats.”

The Warlock’s gaze drifted down to the green rose attached to Diana’s cloak. “You’re her.” The Warlock looked away and muttered a curse. Diana wondered if the stranger would shoot her. It seemed she was thinking quickly, with the way her shoulders were tense and she tapped her foot. After a brief moment, she gestured for the Hunter to follow. “Come on. My ship’s not far. We better get you to the City. The Vanguard will want to know this. You probably know better than any of us where he hides, how he works.”

Diana merely nodded, still numb and shocked. The Warlock turned on her heel and walked, Diana following closely behind her.

~

The duo barely made it ten minutes before a familiar gunshot - dark and infernal - rang out, an angry red hole shot into the Warlock’s head. Diana cried out as she went down. The other’s Ghost appeared and was immediately shot down. Wisps of Light rose up and the man in dark armor absorbed the Light. She couldn’t see his expression, but she could feel the anger, the darkness in his gaze as he looked at her. It was paralyzing. What the Warlock said was true. At least partially. And she’d been blind to it, kept in the dark by the man she called her mentor, her first friend. Possibly more, if given enough time.

The girl didn’t realize that tears had sprung into her eyes. Whether out of fear or sorrow for the other Guardian, she wasn’t sure. Without thinking, she ran. She tried to dart away. She cried out and skidded across the uneven surface of the Moon as a bullet lodged itself in her shin, the poison burning her. It wouldn’t kill her.

Yor stepped towards her and she tried scrambling away, crying out at the pain. He grabbed her by the neck and pulled her up, Diana trying to claw at his hand to get him to let go. He roughly pushed her against a nearby wall, knocking the wind out of her. He pinned her there, his face uncomfortably close to hers.

“Did you truly think you could be rid of me so easily? All I have done for you, all I have taught you, and you would throw it away?” he growled darkly. She’d never heard him so angry or menacing. She couldn’t see through the thick-tinted visor of his helmet, but she didn’t need to see his face to know that it was contorted in rage. For the first time since her initial few hours of her new life, she was terrified. She didn’t recognize this man. She whimpered and tried once more to wriggle out of his grasp. His grip tightened around her neck, cutting off her air supply. She choked and sputtered. Just as quickly, he loosened his grip though his hand was still very much wrapped around her neck.

“You think you can leave? You’re mine. I’ve invested too much in you to let you go now,” he said darkly. The cloaked Titan struck a blow to her head, disorienting her and causing her to quickly lose consciousness, feeling fear. But most of all, she felt hurt.


End file.
